The purpose of this invention is to provide an assembly which can be quickly mounted on a shaft without passing over the ends of the shaft. More particularly, a preferred purpose of this invention is to provide a nut which can be quickly fastened to or released from a threaded member without the need for passing the nut over the free end of the threaded member and/or removing other assemblies from the threaded member.
In conventional nut and bolt assemblies, the nut is passed over the free end and threaded into position to secure a member between the head of the bolt and the nut. Others in the prior art have sought ways to expedite the assembly of the nut onto the threaded member. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,406,804 to W. S. Alexander dated Feb. 14, 1922, entitled QUICK RELEASABLE NUT AND BOLT, an internally threaded nut is split into two segments which may be readily placed in mating relationship with the external threads on a bolt at any point intermediate the length of the bolt. The threaded segments are held in position by means of a unitary retaining member which has wedge shaped surfaces which engage and interact with wedge surfaces on the segments so that when the bolt is tightened the retainer is forced into surrounding engagement with the segments to maintain the segment in place. In that device, however, the retainer member is unitary and must be slid over the free end of the bolt. Therefore, the Alexander nut is not usable with threaded members where there is no accessible free end.
The nut of this invention consists of two or more internally threaded segments which, when placed together around a threaded member, function as a conventional nut. A retainer member is employed and is also split into at least two segments so that it too may be placed around a threaded member intermediate its length without having to first be passed over the free end thereof. There are many instances where it is desirable to place a nut on a threaded member intermediate its length wherein the free ends are not accessible or if they are accessible they already have nuts or other assemblies at other positions thereon which normally would have to first be removed. The nut of this invention obviates those problems and results in substantial time savings.
In its broader aspects, this invention may be termed an assembly which is to be secured to a shaft intermediate its ends. In this aspect, the assembly comprises four or more interlocking parts which can be assembled around the shaft. In this aspect, the shaft need not be threaded or circular in cross-section, and the assembly can be, for instance, a bearing.